>> good morning, i'm chuck todd, welcome to the virginia gubernatorial debate between republican glenn young conditions and terry mcauliffe. george mason university and nbc 4 telemeundo 44. this debate is airing on nbc stations across the

commonwealth. nationally on c-span and streaming on nbc washington.com. welcome to you. it's being aired on radio by our news partner wtop. that we know means a lot. we are pleased to be back in person for this debate tonight at the northern virginia community college here in alexander. our audience has followed vaccination and masking protocols to make sure that we can be together safely for this exchange of ideas. let's begin by quickly covering the rules for today's event. the debate will last one hour. and will begin with 90 second opening states. then our panelists and myself will pose questions. these questions are determined by nbc news and the panelists, period. they have not been reviewed by the candidates. or the northern virginia chamber. each candidate will have one minute to respond anti-candidate answering first will get an additional 30 second rebuttal. as moderator i will reserve the right to follow up as needed. we will conclude debate with one-minute closing statements from each candidate.

there is a timekeeper who will notify candidates of remaining time and when it expired. in the interest of covering as much ground as possible, we ask the candidates to adhere to these time limits. welcome our fanlists, julie carey is news 4's bureau chief and covering politics for nbc 4 for more than 25 years. alberto is our anchor for telemeundo 44 and covers the latino community in virginia. now the candidates. republican glenn youngkin and democrat terry mcauliffe. you guys can clap if you'd like. [applause] get that out of the way. we know you are enjoying both. with that let's begin, mr. young kin your 90 second opening statement. mr. youngkin: my fellow virginians tonight i ask you to join me. i ask you to hire me to go work for you. i'm a husband, i'm a father, i'm a man of faith. i'm job creator. and i'm a homegrown virginian. over the last eight years

virginia has seen itself fall behind, seriously behind, schools failing. murder rate rising. cost of living skyrocketing. and our economy and job machine stalling. we can fix this. on day one i will cut taxes. i will eliminate the grocery tax. saving virginians all in $1500 in year one. we will re- establish excellence in schools, investing in teachers and facilities and charter schools. we'll fully fund police. we'll re- invigorate the job machine, creating 400 thousand jobs. my opponent tonight will say untruths about me, my plan, his record, and his extreme views. that's what 40-year politicians do. and our last debate he lied to you. the voters. once about every other minute. trying to hide his views on getting rid of right to work. on defunding police. on selling out to the teachers unions.

his so-called plans will cost virginians $16 billion. $5,400 each in a tax increase. it's recycled failed policies. my fellow virginian, tonight i'll share my vision for lower taxes for the best jobs, for the best cools, for the safety -- >> thank you mr. young youngkin. mr. mcauliffe. mr. mcauliffe: i'm so excited to be with everybody tonight. i was honored to be your 72nd governor. if you remember when i took office i inherited an economy that was in chaos. i got to work. i got out of bed every single day fighting for you. i worked in a bipartisan manner and guess what? we created 120,000 new jobs. personally income went up 14%. but now we have covid. we have got new challenges. so i've got 20 very serious plans of how i will lead us out out of this covid pandemic. i talk about raising the minimum wage. paid sick days. talk about health care. bringing those costs down making

sure we drop the costs on prescription drugs. i did a billion dollar investment in education last time i was governor. i'm going to do two billion now to make sure our children get the skills they need to be successful. none of this works if we don't defeat covid. i'm running against a candidate who actually has been spreading anti-vacs rhetoric throughout the commonwealth of virginia. we cannot move this economy forward and keep our schools open if we are not getting our folks vaccinated. doesn't believe nurses and doctors and teachers should be vaccinated. i do. he goes on right wing radio and says, quote, you don't want it, don't take it. he was also recently quoted saying, you know, there's many good reasons why you don't need to get vaccinated. he told college students, if you don't want to get it, just file an exemption for whatever the reason. he just said that nurses working in cancer facilities on vitdz yet getting key chemotherapy don't need to be vaccinated.

>> thank you. thank you, gentlemen. we are going to begin with covid-19 pandemic. it's infected 840,000 virginians. killed more than 12,000 in this state. this is the difference between the two of you on the issue of vaccine mandates as just been brought up. mr. young youngkin opposing them, mr. mcauliffe supporting them for all workers in the state. mr. young king the first question. you personally favor being vaccinated and should be a choice. why should teachers, health care workers, and other essential employees be allowed to do their jobs unvaccinated. mr. youngkin: i actually believe that everyone should get the vaccine. despite the fact that's the most egregious untruth my opponent continues to say about me. i've gotten the vaccine. my family has gotten the vaccine. it's the best way for people to keep themself safe. and i have asked everyone in virginia to please get the vaccine. but i don't think we should mandate it. i think we find ourselves at a

moment where my opponent has said he's looked at the television screen and he has said, if you don't get the vaccine, i'm going to make your life difficult. he wants employers to fire employees who don't get the vaccine. at a time when we are trying to come out of this pandemic, we are ranked 44th in the nation in job recovery. we need those health care workers. we need people on the job. to make their life difficult, that's no way to go serve virginians. we can do this. we can protect lives and livelihoods. as governor that's what i'll do in virginia. >> mr. mr. mcauliffe. mr. mcauliffe: let's be clear, clen youngkin is the one lying to you. he goes on right-wing radio and does his right right wing rallies and tells his supporters, his quote, if you don't want to get it. don't get it. you can't be governor saying things like that. that is is disqualifying. we have 8,000 cases yesterday in virginia.

10% of virginia's population has been inspected -- infected. we need leadership as governor not trying to be a trump wannabe and doing the talking points. he says one thing on right-wing radio and then comes here and says something different. he has said, day one, as he's governor, masks off. and no vaccination requirements. think about that. you have a parent who has a child, going to school, first raid, they can't get it because they are too young. he's going to send a child to a school where the teacher's not wearing a mask and the teacher is not vaccinated. that's disqualifying. >> thank you, mr. mcauliffe. 30 seconds, mr. youngkin. yoip i think -- mr. youngkin: i think what is most hypocritical here no more than five or six weeks ago tarrif mcauliffe shared my view companies should not mandate. it should be a decision companies should make. then for political expediency he must have seen a poll he changed his view completely.

this is what you get from terry mcauliffe. it's whatever he thinks he needs to say to get you your vote. let me be clear. i believe the vaccine absolutely saves lives. i think the last 20 months has been an absolute tragedy. i look forward to working with virginians to get people vaccinated. and help people live their lives. mr. todd: quick follow follow-up. you believe getting vaccinated for measles, rubella is a personal choice? mr. youngkin: i think that the data associated with those vaccines is something that we should absolutely understand the difference between those vaccine. and we have a moment here, we have a moment here to help people understand the real information in this vaccine. mr. todd: those vaccines mandatory. but not covid? mr. youngkin: can be mandatory. i do believe the covid vaccine is one everyone should get. but we shouldn't mandate it. mr. todd: next quek.

mr. mcawe live -- mcauliffe. your opponent's ad say you are too dangerous for virginia. during your first term as governor murders for year rose. what responsibility do you bear for this increase in crime? what would you do to reduce the rise we are seeing right now today? mr. mcauliffe: first of all as governor your job is to keep your community safe. as governor i invested in our state police, our law enforcement, our sheriffs. i got 1,000 sheriffs off of food stamps when i was governor. guess what? virginia had the lowest crime rate of any major state in the united states of america. i'm proud, i'm the first governor ever to become an honorary sheriff from the her sheriff''s association. if you want to keep people safe. keep guns off the street. glenn and i differ. he has sid said publicly there is not one single gun protection bill that he supports. and then he said let me be clear, none. we passed background checks and i rise in supporter it. after the tragedies of virginia beach and virginia tech we need

to get guns off the streets. today in virginia if a spouse goes on social media and says i'm going to kill my spouse, we can go and take that gun away. glenn joining kin -- youngkin will roll back all commonsense gun protections. guess what? criminals will get guns. they'll kill siblings and law enforcement. mr. todd: thank you. mr. youngkin -- is -- thank you. thank you. let's give this a minute. woman speaking] mr. todd: all right. thank you.

all right. all right. security. woman speaking] mr. todd: quick commercial break. we'll be right back.

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c-span now has you covered. download the app for free today. >> back live in alexander alexandria with the two candidates for governor of virginia on this taje. mr. todd: we'll pick up where we left off. we are not going to take other breaks. we'll plow right through. mr. youngkin, one minute. issue of crime. you heard from mr. mcauliffe. one minute. and 30-second rebuttal. mr. youngkin: over-the-course of the last 20 years we watched our murder rate hit an all time high. mr. mcauliffe doesn't seem to care because the murder rate went up 43% when he was governor and the rape rate went up every year. law enforcement has universally supported me.

50 sheriffs have supported me. four sheriffs have joint the republican party. the fraternal order of police endorsed me yesterday. the police benevolence association endorsed me. law enforcement community wholeheartedly trusts that i will do the right thing. will invest in law enforcement. will protect qualified immunity. we'll invest in a broken mental health system. we'll make our community safe again. what mr. mcauliffe factually endorses is, in fact, a parole board that sacrifices the rights of victims in terms to protect criminals. i believe in second chances, but we have to protect virginians. on day one we are also going to replace the entire parole board. mr. todd: mr. mcauliffe, 30 seconds. mr. mcauliffe: as i mentioned earlier, let the facts determine here. we had the lowest crime rate of any major state in america when i was governor. not the second lowest, not the third lowest, not the fourth.

the absolute lowest. that took a lot of work. and i leaned in. i'm very proud as governor i worked in a bipartisan way to get the toughest domestic violence law in the united states of america. "the washington post" has endorsed me. glowingly. an "the washington post" said that glen youngkin's economic plan will defund the police here in the commonwealth of virginia. go read the editorial. mr. todd: quick follow-up for you. you said, you favored ending protecting police officers from civil lawsuits, so so-called qualified immunity. then you said you wouldn't end it. explain why you changed your mind. mr. youngkin: it's called qualified immunity for reefnlt i have said if any law officer is out acting in good faith doing their job, they will have the full protection of the commonwealth of virginia. but if there is a law enforcement officer who breaks the law, they get zero protection, that's why we call it qualified immunity. i have always been 100% for

protecting any law enforcement officer every day who is out there. i'm very proud of the men and women i have the fairfax sheriff stacey, who is a big supporter of mine. i thank her for being here. if you break the law, chuck, are you not going to get qualified immunity. we will not protect it. mr. todd: you're not changing the law on qualified immunity. mr. youngkin: no. you should know the general assembly has a task force going -- mr. todd: i understand that. mr. youngkin: i'll see what comes to my test. >> mr. youngkin in the first debate on the subject of abortion restriction, you said, quote, i do believe a pain threshold bill would be appropriate, unquote. in congress a pain threshold bill would make performing abortions after 20 weeks of gestation a crime. that's in a woman's second trie messer. if you become governor would you work to outlaw abortions beginning in the second trimester? mr. youngkin: thank you very much for that question. let me start because my opponent has mischaracterized my position here repeatedly. first i am pro-life.

i do believe in exceptions in the case where there is rape or incest or the other's life is in jeopardy. i also believe that a pain threshold bill is one like the one in congress that we could and should support. my opponent on the other hand is the most extreme abortion candidate in the country. what i know i will do is block legislation like he said he would sign where a child is kept comfortable after the child is born when a decision is made whether that child lives or dies. he called that legislation commonsense legislation. said he would sign it. the vast, vast majority of virginians disagree with terry mcauliffe on his abortion stance. he has said he's going to promote virginia businesses to come -- for companies to come to virginia because it's the easiest place to get an abortion. i think that's shameful. mr. todd: your one minute. mr. mcauliffe: i'd like to release a tape with someone actually saying that. there is not a thing glenn

youngkin has said is true. what he's done he got caught on tape secretly saying that when he is governor he will go on the offense to ban abortions and defund planned parenthood. he says i won't go squishy on you. that's what he said. but i want every woman in virginia to listen to me closely. i was a brick wall to protect women's rights when i was governor. they tried to shut the 16 women's clinics down. had i not got elected in 2013 there would not be a woman's clinic open today. i rise in supporter the laws on the books today which 80% of virginians support and a majority of republicans support. that's what i rise in supporter as governor. glenn youngkin is in the extreme. i can tell you this, businesses are not going to come to a state where they are putting walls up around their state. he's against gay marriage. he's against abortion. and that's his religious right. and i respect his right for his opinion. i can tell you this, he cannot, the businesses that i brought to

virginia, amazon, google, facebook, microsoft, they are not coming to a state that discriminates against women. mr. todd: thank you. 30 seconds. mr. youngkin: thank you. again, terry, i just can't understand how you can just so comfortably lie to everybody. let's just be clear. mr. mcauliffe: that's what you have been doing all night. mr. youngkin: you stood up in a front of group of people you bring companies here because it was easier to bring an abortion. you want to be the abortion governor. companies are not making these choices. ford motor company decided to put four plants, $7 billion, two in kentucky, one in tennessee, one in georgia. they skipped virginia. this is the legacy you have left virginia. a dying economy. jobs that aren't for anyone. you absolutely misunderstand what it takes to get companies to come to virginia. mr. todd: all right. very quick. two followups on this issue. mr. joining youngkin. do you support a right to an abortion being included in virginia's constitution? mr. youngkin: no, i do not.

mr. todd: mr. mcauliffe, you believe a woman should make her own decision on reproductive rights. the last debate you said you support that right only through a second trie midwester. to nail this down what restrictions do you support when it comes to access to abortion? mr. mcauliffe: i rise in supporter the laws today that we have on the books here in the commonwealth of virginia. which as i say 80% of virginians do. i would like to see roe v. wade enshrined in our constitution because i'm scared of donald trump anti-people like glenn youngkin. women are tired of people like glenn youngkin telling them what to do with their bodies. mr. todd: all right. mr. mcauliffe: it is time that men leave women alone and let them make their own choice about their own reproductive problems. mr. todd: the next question. >> mr. mcauliffe, current virginia governor ralph northam tout add record $2.6 billion budget surplus. a portion of that money is dedicated to the general reserve fund, bet attorney as rainy day fund. you know that.

your opponent calls that surplus clear evidence of overtaxation and he's proposed returning $1.5 billion to taxpayers. why shouldn't virginians who have just gone through such challenging times during the pandemic reap some of this fiscal reward in the form of a tax relief? mr. mcauliffe: first of all that $2.6 billion came from a $14.3 billion one-time american rescue plan money. as i say when i took office i had to call special session to eliminate a $2.5 billion deficit that had been left for me. i left a half billion surplus. i'll put more money in people's pockets. glenn comes up with these crazy tax schemes, "the washington post," roanoke paper, three independent studies have said what he will do will destroy virginia's economy t will take $10 billion out of education. you'll see 43,000 teachers cut, including 3,000 right here in fairfax county. he loves his tax schemes. he even went to fairfax count last year during covid and had a

faulty tax scheme because he keeps horses in his backyard, fancy horses, and actually got an agriculture exemption and basically chiseled fairfax county out of $75,000 a year which is actually a year salary for a teacher. i am neat going to do that. you make hundreds of millions of dollars, why chisel fairfax county could he so you can have an agriculture exemption for your fancy horses in your backyard. that's wrong. mr. todd: one minute to you. mr. youngkin: let's begin that the $2.6 billion surplus was actually generated by over taxes virginians. $4.3 billion went to the state government from the federal government. over $9 billion went other places. i know you don't understand -- mr. mcauliffe: you have no blue cleu what you are talking about. mr. youngkin: revenue and expenses i know are hard for you. i know they are hard for you. i know they are hard for you. mr. mcauliffe: that's why you got tossed out. mr. mcauliffe: terry, you have -- mr. youngkin: ter are you, you have no idea what you are talking with.

that money belongs to virginians not terry mcauliffe. they are going to overtax us again by $2.6 billion again. they are piling on tax upon tax. we are going to eliminate the proashry tax, double the standard deduction, declare the largest tax rebate in virginia history. we are going to cut the taxation on our military retirement up to $40,000. they'll stay here. we, in fact, find virginia losing out with families moving away to the other states faster than their moving here because our taxes are too high and we are going to bring them down and make our cost of living in virginia lower. mr. todd: 30 seconds. mr. mcauliffe: glenn youngkin will have no ability to bring jobs here because he wants to ban abortion. he's against gay marriage. i got people to move to richmond, virginia, 1,000 jobs. because we are a welcoming state. with extreme positions businesses won't come here. i have nestle corporation to move out of l.a. 1100 new economic development

projects. $2 -- $20 billion new capital. i left a half billion dollar surplus. i inherited $2.5 billion deficit. that's just the fact. we created, guess what? 200 thousand new jobs and personal income went up sh%. i'm very proud of that record. mr. todd: move to our next issue here. i have the next question for you. election integrity. out of more than four million ballots cast in virginia's 2020 presidential leaks there was one reported case of voter fraud. that person was convicted this year of a misdemeanor. mr. youngkin, earlier this year you said election integrity is a top righter of yours. last debate you said there had a not been significant fraud in the election. if it's not a problem why call it a priority? mr. youngkin: election integrity, ensure our elections are trusted and safe, is not a republican issue or democrat issue. of course my opponent food up and said in 2000 that they stole the election from us. he said it continually. never acknowledged that george

w. bush was legitimately elected. we, in fact, saw after that florida invest in their election process. and actually report first. virginians deserve that. we are going to invest in our election process. virginians trust it. i said there wasn't material fraud. and i believe that the election was certifiably fair. but i want to get back to one thing a minute ago. my opponent mischaracter izes -- miss characterizes his report so acutely. virginia over the last eight years has grown economically 70% faster than the -- 70% slower than the states around us. maryland, north carolina, tennessee, south carolina, georgia, they have outpaced us by 70%. when you were governor, 120%. creating more jobs and more opportunity. that's the legacy you have left virginia. mr. todd: mr. mcauliffe. mr. mcauliffe: election integrity, this is all glenn youngkin had on his website for seven months. this is all he talked about. he's actually said it is the

most important issue facing virginians. election integrity. really? i think it's jobs, covid, health care, i think it's education. you know why? because he's a total wannabe donald trump. this is goes back to the 2020 election that somehow trump mysteriously, they put their continue foil -- tinfoil hats won and all of a sudden trump won the 2020 election. you know what runs down, our democracy. we shouldn't allow this to happen. he said so much of the reason he's running for governor, his quote, is because of donald trump. he's been endorsed by donald trump four times. he said he's honored and pleased to have donald trump's endorsement. he play this is game. extreme on right-wing radio and talks about these issues and come to northern virginia and pretend i'm a moderate. he's not. he's extreme on abortion, election integrity. bought and paid for by donald trump. he wants to bring donald trump politics to virginia.

we are not going to allow it. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, 30 seconds. mr. youngkin: terry, you made folks in las vegas a lot of money. i know you love to campaign there versus being here. mr. mcauliffe: i do love las vegas. mr. youngkin: there is an over-under tonight how many times you say donald trump. it was 10. you busted through t -- it. mr. mcauliffe: there is a reason why. mr. youngkin: i know you wish you weren't because the balls said i'm ahead. you are running against me. let's have tarrif mcauliffe versus glenn youngkin and let virginia voters decide who they want their next governor to be. mr. mcauliffe: the reason -- mr. todd: we have have to move to the next question. mr. mcauliffe: he's endorsed four times. mr. youngkin: the only person endorsing trump is you. >> mr. mcauliffe, your campaign website promises you will implement the virginia department of education's new model policy to protect

transgender students. that's a policy that allows students to use the rest room and locker room that matches their gender identity and requires school employees to address students by their chosen pronoun. but in the last debate you said it should be up to local school districts to be able to create their own policies. which should it be? statewide protection or local choice? mr. mcauliffe: i like locals having input on such an important issue. but the state will always issue guidance as we do from the department of education. but i have said this before. these children are going through a very stressful situations. why people continually want to demonize children, i just don't understand. i want every child in virginia to get a quality education. i put a record billion dollars in education the last time i was governor. no matter the color of your skin or whom you love, i believe you should get a great quality education. and that's why i have called for a $2 billion year investment. we have to raise teacher pay above the national average.

i want every single student to get access to broad broadband. i want to make sure those at-risk 3 and 4-year-olds, about 41,000. get a pred-education. i have a real education plan. "washington post," another papers, have rid qud glenndown kin's economic plan. ridiculed glenn youngkin's economic plan. you in fairfax county will lose 3,000 teachers. i want more not fewer. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, one minute. mr. youngkin: the economic plan terry keeps referring to as nothing to do with my economic plan. doesn't like mine because it's weight -- better than his and picked up another one and using that for all these baseless comments. with regard to our kids in schools. we are called to love everyone. to love everyone. i agree with your conclusion, terry, that we should let local school districts make these decisions, but we must ask them to include concepts of safety and privacy and respect in the

discussion, and we must demand that they include parents in this dialogue. what we have seen over the course of the last 20 months is our school systems refusing to engage with parents. in fact, in fairfax county this past week, we watched parents so upset because there was such sexually explicit material in the library they had never seen, it was shocking. you vetoed the bill that would have informed parents that they were there. you believe school systems should dell children what to do. i believe parents should be in charge of their kids' education. mr. todd: mr. mcauliffe, 30 seconds. mr. mcauliffe: first of all this shows how cool glenn youngkin is. he doesn't understand what the laws were because he's never been involved here in helping virginia. but it was not. the parents had the right to veto bills. veto books, glenn. not to be knowledge about it. also take them off the shelves. i'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take make their own decision.

i stopped the bill that i don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. i get really tired of everybody running down teachers. i love our teachers. and what they have done through covid, these are real heroes that deserve our respect. you keep running them down. mr. todd: thank you, mr. mcauliffe. al alberto, the next question. >> virginia house extended protections to ensure virginia renters are not elected -- einvestigated until june 2022 due to the pandemic. what is your position on lection vickss? mr. youngkin: i think there is a good legal framework in place to provide resources and support for people so that they won't be kicked out of their homes. we have been through a really, really tough pandemic. in fact, i think it's worse n virginia than otherwise needed to be. we are ranked 44th in the nation in job recovery because we have a stalled economy going in and we actually ranked a 50th in the nation in freedom coming out. i believe the number one way we

are going to help folks with their rent is to get them jobs. virginia created 44,000 jobs over the last eight years. north carolina created eight times that amount. tennessee, six times. it's the legacy that tarrif ry mcauliffe left us. stalled economy, fewer jobs today than before the pandemic. i am ' going to go to work on day one. we are going to not shut down our economy. no lockdowns. we are going to cut job killing regulations. we are going to turn on our job machine create 400,000 jobs. i am ' going to protect right to work. terry mcauliffe will get rid of it and it will be a deathblow to virginia. mr. todd: mr. mccaul live. mcauliffe. mr. mcauliffe: if you read my plan plan, we need to put more money in the virginia housing trust fund. we get more waivers to get people in -- keep people in their homes. i just met with the leadership of amazon the other day, puts hundreds of millions of dollars into affordable housing. especially up here in northern

virginia we need a lot more affordable housing. ifl a whole plan how we'll do it. glenn keeps running down our economy. i was working creating jobs. let me tell you about glenn's experience here. he took 300 jobs out of virginia when he was the c.e.o. he closed the arlington office, moved them to another state. when he was the chief operating officer, he was running a company called small smiles. which actually was cited huge fine from the inspector general because what they were doing was unnecessary medical procedures on children. 100 cases in manassas. babies were forced to have root canals, many of them without proper anesthesia. why? he did it for profit. i was here working here in virginia to create good-paying jobs. he was making billions of dollars. mr. todd: thank you. mr. mcauliffe: hurting seniors with manor care and hurting children here with his small smile dental clinic. mr. todd: 30 seconds.

mr. youngkin: creating jobs is a lot more than holding press releases and flying around places. terry mcauliffe used a $1.4 million of taxpayer money to pay to a chinese website that turn out to be a sham. all he did was have a press conference and fly to china to celebrate it. you lost $1.4 million of taxpayer money and no jobs showed up. i'm proud of carlyle. one of the things i'm proud about mostly is that when things didn't quite go right, when things were not where we planned, we worked hard to put them right. mr. todd: ok. mr. mcauliffe: -- . mr. youngkin: we wanted to serve them. that's what we -- mr. mcauliffe: quick 30 seconds. mr. todd: i want to get each of you on one question. you both live in a wealthy neighborhood. how do you convince wealthy homeowners that affordable housing should be built in their neighborhood, too? and they don't fight it because they are worried about property values. 30 seconds to you mr. mcauliffe.

mr. mcauliffe: everybody here in northern virginia understands desperate need. people who work here shouldn't have to drive two hours to work every single day. what you do you work with the local, cities, and counties and if you read my plan, i have a program together on regulations and zoning to make it easier for people to build affordable housing. and we'll invest money at the state level through the virginia housing trust authority so we will invest with them, incentivize developers, to build low-income housing. it is one of the biggest issues we face. the reason is, so many jobs. i recruited 1100 cops to come to the commonwealth of virginia. mr. todd: do you think your neighbors would support seeing duplexes built? mr. youngkin: i think every r every part of northern virginia has different zoning requirements. and that is up to the local authorities. i think the biggest challenge we have in affordable housing is the mound of regulation that is have been piled on top of businesses for the last eight years that all of a sudden have every house built in virginia

required 20% to 25% of the housing cost to actually get through permitting and regulations. we make it easier to permit and we can bring down the cost of housing. we need more supply. the bottom line is -- mr. todd: thank you. mr. youngkin: when this economy starts really growing when i'm governor as opposed to stalled groatd-- mr. todd: thank you, mr. youngkin. >> the removal of confederate general robert e. statue reminds us -- robert e. lee statute reminds us how deeply race is woven into virginia's history. and that virginia sometimes been on the wrong side of that history. whether it's slavery, civil war, the state's former interracial marriage ban, or segregated schools. how should virginia school children be taught about these issues? mr. mcauliffe: i was happy those statues came down. they were symbols of hate divisiveness.

i also leaned in when i was governor. i banded confederate flag from the virginia license plates. i think it's important that we send a message that our state is open and welcoming. we need to teach our children the full history of who we are as a commonwealth and who we are as a country. i think it's very important. those statues needed to come down. as you all know i was a leader on voting rights. i enfranchised more voters than any governor in the history of the united states of america. it was the right thing to do. i was all about lifting people up. giving people second opportunities. and you know what, that's why i want to lean in and help folks next time. i want to see we raise the minimum wage. i think it's disgraceful that some home health care worker goes 10 houses a day cleaning bedpans all day and makes $7.25 and she has no benefits. it's time to pay $15 an hour here in the commonwealth of virginia. treat people with dignity and respect. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, one minute. mr. youngkin: thank you.

what's interesting is how quickly terry mcauliffe moved off his statement when he was move move that the robert e. statute and stone wall jackson statue should be left alone. teaching our children about racism in our school is a real challenge. i think we recognize that virginia and america has chapters that are abhorrent. we also have great chapters. we need to teach our children real history. we need to teach our children to come together and have dreams that they can aspire and go get. we don't need to teach our children to view everything through a lens of race and pit them against one another so that their dreams are stolen from them. on day one we are going to get education moving. we are going to re- establish expectations of excellence. my opponent watered-down standards in schools to the point where our children are falling so far behind in the commonwealth of virginia. 62% of virginia kids cannot pass an eighth grad math test because

of the legacy that tarrif mcauliffe left us. we'll work on day one. mr. mcauliffe: glenn knows nothing about virginia. i remind him the bill we passed on education reform, i had a republican legislature. guess what it passed the virginia senate which was republican? 40-0. it got 85 votes out of 100 in the house of delegates. you are attacking your own republican party, glenn. it's just, you know, you get your trump talking points. you understand the law of virginia and how these things work. it's just not right. i will invest in education. i will build up education. and that's what we need to do. and i'm excited about it. but his plan will cut 43,000 teachers. don't take my word for it. read "the washington post." read the three independent -- mr. todd: julie. >> mr. youngkin, as you know thousands of afghan evacuees are here in virginia, foreheat, fort

pickett, after being evacuated from afghanistan shortly after the taliban took control of that nation. do you support virginia helping these evac evacuees resettle here and stay in the commonwealth. how should the state do that? mr. youngkin: et let's start with what we saw happen in afghanistan. we saw an abject failure of leadership from joe biden. he abandoned our military. he abandoned american citizens. he abond beyond our allies. he abandoned afghans who had gone shoulder to shoulder with us trying to make a way forward. i think that we have to recognize what failure of leadership looks like. terry mcauliffe ascribes to all of this. we have watched failure in our border down in texas. it's absolute chaos. open borders. can we recognize that we are a nation of laws and we need to make sure that we are processing everyone who comes in. have they had a covid vaccine?

you want everybody else to get one. has the afghan refugees got one? i think we should, in fact, make sure that those that stood shoulder to shoulder with us are welcomed. that they are processed appropriately. and that they can have a home in virginia. mr. todd: mr. mccaul live. one minute. mr. mcauliffe: sure, absolutely. these people helped the united states of america and we owe them a responsibility. i have always been for it. what we need to do. and let me tell you, we have a lot of brave men and women who have fought for this country. i have a son, marine captain, who served over in that region. fighting isis. my heart goes out to every single parent who has lost a loved one in service of our country. it wasn't a day that dorothy and i didn't worry when our son was over there fighting. so i will always stand with our military and those that assist our military. that's why i was proud as

governor, we were the first state in america to functionally end veteran homelessness. we were the first state in america to add all these college courses to make sure we could get our veterans jobs as soon as they came out of active duty. first state in america to have our cyber vets. when i was governor, 26,000 more vets were hired through our program. i love our military. and i'm proud of our military here in the commonwealth of virginia. foip mr. youngkin, 30 seconds. mr. youngkin: today we see more of our veterans moving away from virginia than moving to virginia. this year it's estimated that 25,000 of our heroes will complete their last posting in virginia and move away. and they are going to tennessee and north carolina and south carolina and georgia, florida, texas, and arizona because virginia is not the right place for them because they can't find a job. we tax their retirement benefits. we made it hard for them to transition from military service to civilian life.

i'm going to fix all of that when i'm governor. we are going to turn virginia into the most military friendly state in virginia. mr. todd: thank you. mr. mccaul live, the next question. when you first ran for governor in 2013 you opposed changing the right to work law. during your recent pry primary race you reversed course and now support it. why did you change your mind? mr. mcauliffe: first of all right to work is not going to change here in virginia. they finally got a bill up in the house of delegates last year. it was defeated 85-12. can't get a hearing in the senate. i'm going to focus my energies on things that we can do. i want to raise the minimum wage. i want paid sick leave. i want family medical leave. as governor i always focused on things that we can get done. that's what i'll do as your governor. that's why i built, contrary to what you are hearing from glenn, a robust economy. i inherited an economy from a republican governor that had a guy ganttic deficit. i left a surplus. that's the reason why so many republicans endorsed me.

over two dozen prominent republicans. tonight i have the leading conservative in america here, bill kristol, endorsed my campaign for governor. i have delegate dave ramadan, one of the most conservative members of the house of delegates. he's endorsed my campaign. former senators, former delegates. why? they know i'll work in bipartisan way to move virginia forward. that's why i'm back running for governor to take virginia to that next level. i want to see us lead america out of this covid crisis. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, one minute. mr. youngkin: thank you. so let's be clear. the leadership in our democrat party today is trying to get rid of right to work. luke, the chair of the appropriation proations committee said it is a top five issue to get rid of. the senate majority leader introduced the bill last time to get rid of right to work. this bill will come to his desk and terry mcauliffe will sign it.

he said that. the minute he said he would sign it, every union in america endorsed him. he's collected tens of millions of dollars from hivment it will be the deathblow for virginia business climate. this is why every business organization in virginia that has offered an endorsement so far as given it to me, not to you. but to me. they don't trust you. this is about standing up for what's right for virginia workers. not forcing them to join a union because you can get donations from them. we have to recognize that virginia's economy must grow not be stalled. we can go to work together to build an economy that will lift up all virginians. that's what i'll do as your governor. mr. todd: 30 seconds. mr. mcauliffe: first of all i have tremendous business support. in fact i think the school we are at. national financial chair, republican national committee, george bush's financial chair. one of our biggest business leaders founded n.v. redskins homes. who is he supporting? he's supporting me?

you may talk to him, great. what good that do you? he's already endorsed me. he's already on my public list. a loft union support me. you know why? i am for raising the minimum wage. he is against raising the minimum wage. he's against paid sick days. he's against family medical leave. you vote for terry mcauliffe, you'll get this done and we are going to lift up workers here in virginia and make them the best work force. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, 30 seconds. mr. youngkin: if the amazon workers in northern virginia want to unionize will be-l you be there helping them? mr. mcauliffe: businesses make their own decision. employees make their own decisions. whatever they want to do. i'm the governor -- mr. todd: you wouldn't support employees trying to unionize -- mr. mcauliffe: i'd let everybody make their own decision. they have to do their own organizing. i'm the governor of everybody. i love everybody. i'm a lover. mr. todd: let me -- mr. mcauliffe: virginia is for lovers.

mr. todd: climate change question. one minute. we are getting low on time. one minute. mr. youngkin, virginians underplay for flood insurance overpaying could produce home prices. dealing with climate change, entire world he dealing with this. who should be paying more when it comes to these issues of flood insurance? the government? wealthier taxpayers? is it someone else? how do we pay for this adaptation? mr. youngkin: first thing we need to recognize is that we do have a challenge. we have a challenge. i'm from ham ton roads. hampton roads. the challenge hampton roads are facing with rising satisfy levels and storm water drain issues are serious. we have to go to work now in order to address those. we have to go to work in order to make sure that there is funding available so they can prepare for rising seas. the challenge that we have got, however, is that the plan that's been put forth with the virginia clean economy act is unworkable. i have spoken to the heads of the utilities.

they don't even know how to do it. dismantling all of our clean burning natural gas. we are going to turn virginia into california and get ready, brown outs and blackouts are coming. the reason why ford doesn't want to come here is one of them they don't trust our power supply. we, in fact, need to have a different plan. we need to embrace all aspects of power generation. wind, solar, nuclear. our clean burning natural gas. my opponent wants to accelerate this transition by 10 years and it will absolutely destabilize virginia and cost virginia taxpayers even more than $800 as expected now. mr. todd: mr. mccaul live, one minute to you. mcauliffe, one minute to you. mr. mcauliffe: i want to see it done by 2035. i think clean energy, i think of jobs. glenn youngkin said, again he's not for the clean plan. the only way we'll make progress in the commonwealth of virginia. when we finally rejoin the paris agreement to join the rest of the world to show that we are serious about it, he said it was

totally frustrating that america got back in it. he doesn't want to do anything on clean energy. i will be the clean energy governor. i have always said this. let's do it by 2035. the opportunities we have. hampton roads, they have seen their sea level rise by 14 inches since 1950. i worked hard. a creek project i did with the h.u.d., $135 million to save a african-american neighborhood to build new seawalls. we have to do that all over hampton roads. what i think about, we had these two new wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of virginia beach. we'll have 200 more in three years. i want to see all those turbines, blades, i want that manufactured here. i think the sports smith marine terminal, i believe, can be the green energy manufacturing hub for the united states of america. that is america's future. mr. todd: we are getting close -- we are getting closer to the end. couple quick questions for both of you. 30 seconds each. mr. youngkin, should members of

virginia's republican congressional delegation on thursday vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill? do you want virginia's republican members of congress to vote for that bill that will provide money to virginia? mr. youngkin: i believe that there is good future in the infrastructure bill. and i look forward to those funds coming to virginia and putting them to work. one of the realities is when you have an offshore wind project that i wholly support, but you have people who never run a business, never negotiated something before, negotiate all of the supply chain is not in america, not in virginia. we should have negotiated american content, virginian content in that. that's what you get when you elect people to office who don't know how to run a business. they end up giving up opportunities and then coming back and trying to make it up after they missed the boat. mr. todd: before you jump in. do you support the $3.5 trillion package the democrats are working in congress or do you think that number should come down? mr. mcauliffe: it is so

frightening to listen to him -- we don't make it yet. we don't make it here in america. this is all a crazy talking points. like trump again. we need to build it here in the commonwealth of virginia. we can't do it today. saying we want the content in virginia. he's just clueless. this is not like a portfolio thing you are trying to sell to investors. we have to deal with reality here. i think the $3.5 is too high. here's my message to congress. i am really sick and tired of all of them. you know what? they ought to follow the virginia model. when i was governor in a bipartisan way, chuck, i got education done. i got transportation done. i got veterans and economic -- we got things done. that's why so many republicans endorsed me. we do things in a bipartisan way. they have to stop their chiti chat and time for them to pass t get this infrastructure bill passed for america. mr. todd: 30 seconds each. mr. mccaul live, you toyed with the identify deef of running for president in 2020. do you pledge to serve your

entire term as goff dove to win this race? mr. youngkin: absolutely. mr. mcauliffe: that dew point go too far. mr. todd: mr. youngkin, donald trump runs for president in 2024, will you support him? mr. youngkin: who knows who is going to be running for president in 2024. who knows. if he's the republican nominee, i'll support him. i want to just be clear. when terry mcauliffe stepped in in 2014, he adopted the exact same tactics that the democrats in washington are using rights now and tried to shut down virginia's government. he threatened to shut it down. he forgets this because it's not pleasant for him to remember. in 2017 the rating agencies came, we are getting ready to down tick virginia because of his inability to manage fiscal responsibility. this is what you get with terry mcauliffe. mr. mcauliffe: just so the facts are clear. the reason they are downgrade is because of the debt i inherited from the prior administration. and i flew to new york with republicans, with me, and guess what? we negotiated it.

glenn, you just got to get your facts right, buddy. you can call the senators, republican senators who went to new york with me. it was because we had a $2 5s billion hole in our budget. mr. todd: you'll get to continue this debate after we are done here. the good news is this. you each get your one minute closing statements. mr. youngkin, i believe you go first in this one. go ahead. mr. youngkin: thank you. first like to thank my wife and our four children. you are amazing. my fellow virginians, tonight i invite you to join me, join me in breaking free from what has plagued our country and divided neighborhoods for too long. broken politics. failed promises. failed leadership. you deserve better. my campaign was founded on a vision that would confront challenges not people. that would deliver results not excuses. it's time to summon the spirit

of washington, of jefferson, of madison, and yes, mason. by coming together to build a virginia that we can all be proud of. a virginia that leads. together we will build schools that launch our students to new heights. together we will build communities by reclaiming our neighborhoods from crime. together we will build jobs and a rip roaring economy that will lift up all virginians. join me tonight with a new vision for leadership and let's build back virginia together. mr. todd: mr. mccaul live, your one minute. mcauliffe, your one minute. mr. mcauliffe: let me thank all of you. i am so excited to be with you ton. you just heard glenn youngkin introduce himself to northern virginia voters. it was all an act. he wants to ban abortions. let's be clear. he's against gay marriage. let's be clear. he said the single most

important issue facing virginia today is election integrity. i don't think that's the case. i will work in a bipartisan way as i did before. that is why in 2017 governing magazine made me the public official of the year for the united states of america. i was proud of that. he said so much of the reason that he's running for governor, his quote, is because of donald trump. i want every virginian watching tonight, i'm running for governor for you. and if you elect me as your governor, i promise you this, i will raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks. i'll get paid six days, family medical leave. i will put money into our education system so our children will learn the skills they need. and i make sure you all 700,000 virginians get quality health care. i ach excited. working together the state will take off like a booster rocket. let's go. mr. todd: thank you. thank you to the northern virginia chamber, the sharp schools, nbc 4 telemeundo 44 for hosting this debate.

this is what democrat sti can look like -- democracy can look like in a positive way. thanks to our great panel of julie and alberto. and the northern virginia community college alexander campus. thank you for the use of this theater. stay with news 4, nbc 4.com for continuing coverage of this election. don't forget to vote. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the. national captioning institute,. which is responsible for. its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more. including spark light. >> the greatest town on earth is the place you call home. at spark light it's our home, too. right now we are all facing our greatest challenge. that's why spark light is working round-the-clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it's a little easier to do yours. >> spark light supports c-span as a public service.

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